Foundation garment



Sept 8, 1953 E. LEWIS 2,651,037

FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed Jan. 11, 195?,

INVENTOR.

EEN/V L E WIS ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 8, 1953 FOUNDATION GARMENT BennLewis, Maplewood, N. J., assgnor to The Lewel Manufacturing Company,Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application January11, 1952, Serial No. 265,945

3 Claims. (Cl. .2-28) This invention relates to foundation garments.

It is an object of my invention to provide a foundation garment which inaddition to the usual supporting and restraining functions will impartto the wearer a stylish nipped-in waist.

It is another object of my invention to provide foundation garment ofthe ycharacter described which has but few more parts than aconventional undergarment, is inexpensive to manufacture, and simple toput on and adjust.

Other objects of my invention will in part be obvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplified in the foundation garment hereinafter described and of whichthe scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the variouspossible embodiments of invention,

Fig. 1 is a front view of a lay gure wearing a girdle constructed inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of said gure;

3 is an enlarged rear view of the upper half of the girdle as it appearswhen laid on a plane surface;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional View taken substantially along the line4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective View of a buckle which constitutes one of theparts of said girdle.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral lildenotes a foundation garment embodying the present invention.

The foundation garment, by way of example, may comprise a corset,corselette, pantie girdle or girdle. For the sake of simplicity, theinvention has been shown in the accompanying drawings and will bedescribed herein as embodied in a girdle.

rlhe foundation garment includes a sheath for encircling the body fromabove the umbilicus to below the hips. Said sheath, per se may be ofconventional construction. It may comprise a vertically elongated tubeincluding circumferentially resilient portions. In the preferred form oimy invention the tube is made in one piece out of circumferentiallyresilient material, for instance being knitted of resilient yarn andtherefore being longitudinally resilient as well. Such a girdle iscommonly known as a two-way stretch girdle. It should be understood,however, that the foundation garment need not be longitudinally orcircumierentially resilient nor of a single piece of material. Ifdesired, the foundation garment may consist of several panels, as iscustomary, including both resilient and nonresilient panels, thenon-resilient panels, oi course, being fabricated from a flexiblematerial such, for instance, as cloth. Indeed, it often may be desirableto include a vertically non-resilient panel so as to enhance theconventional gureshaping function of the garment. To this end I mayincorporate a vertically elongated diamond shaped panel l2 ofnon-resilient cloth superimposed and stitched on to the front of thegirdle with the longitudinal axis of the diamond coincident with thelongitudinal front center line of the girdle.

The overall contour of the foundation garment is principallyconvention-al; that is to say, where, as here, the sheath consists of atube of knitted elastic material, the diameter of the tube from top tobottom is, in general, uniform so that if the tube were laid on a planesurface, its two side edges would constitute straight lines parallel toone another. In the event that at least a substantial portion of thesheath constitutes nonelastic flexible panels, the sheath when laid on aplane surface would have its side edges outwardly bowed with the maximumwidth in the vicinity of the hips.

In a conventional foundation garment the width of the sheath near thetop edge either is uniform, as is the case if the sheath is a tubularelastic knit fabric, or the width gradually reduces toward the top edgein the event that at least a substantial portion oi the sheath consistsof flexible non-resilient fabric panels. However, in aocordance with afeature of the present invention the sheath is constricted near the topedge as inw dicated at I4 in Fig. 3, the constriction being present inthe garment as manufactured, i. e. before it is donned.

The lower edge of the constriction is at or slightly above the region ofthe foundation garment corresponding to the portion of the bodyimmediately above the pelvis, i. e. the portion oi the body in the planeof the umbilicus. The constriction, although sharp, is not abrupt andextends upwardly for a comparatively short distance, e. g. about one andone-half inches, the plane l of minimum width being about centrallydisposed between the upper and lower edges of the constriction. At theplane of minimum width the sheath is approximately three-quarters of aninch narrower than above and below the `constriction, i. e. aboutthree-eighths of an inch to a side. The upper edge of the constrictionis well below the upper edge of the garment, e. g. about two inches. Inother words, the garment is so constructed as to have a constricted zonewhose lower edge is in the region of the umbilicus, said Zone extendingvertically approximately one and one-half inches. The construction ofthe remainder of the garment, ysave for said constricted zone, isconventional except as will be pointed out hereinafter.

The constriction may be provided in any suitable manner well known tothe art. For instance, in the eventl that non-elastic panels are used,the constriction can be formed by suitably cutting the panels. Where, ashere, the sheath consists of a single continuous tube of elastic knittedmaterial on which the fabric panel l2 simply is superimposed andstitched, the constricted zone can be fashioned in the knitting process,for instance, either by decreasing the number of stitches in theknitting process as the plane of minimum width is approached andthereafter increasing the number of stitches, or by increas" ing thetension in the yarn as said plane is approached and reducing tension asthe plane is left.

In accordance with another feature of my invention the foundationgarment includes a circumferential belt i8. .Said belt is longitudinaliyresilient, i. e. resilient circumferentially of the girdle, optionallybeing non-resilient transversely. Preferably the belt is less yielding,i. e. harder to stretch, than the underlying part of the sheath. Thebelt is comparatively narrow, e. g. in the order of an inch. The bottomedge of ti e belt is between the plane of minimum width the lower edgeof the constriction.

A portion of the belt intermediate its ends, e. g. the center of thebelt, is permanently sccured to the outside of the sheath, preferably atthe front, for instance by rows of stitching i9 which hold the panel l2in place, said part of the belt being concealed beneath the panel forthe Sake of appearance. The two ends of the belt are free. It may bementioned at this point that, if desired, the belt may be made into twoparts with each part having an end secured to the sheath, the spacebetween these ends preferably being fashioned of a circumferentiallynonresilient material.

The sheath and belt are provided with interengageable means fordetachably couplingr the ends of the belt to the sheath with the beltunder tension. More particularly, each free end of the belt has mountedthereon a buckle including three parallel bars 22, 24, joined to oneanother along one set of ends by a transverse bar 28, the other set ofends being free. One outer bar 22 has its free end provided with aretroverted nger whose tip is aligned with and spaced from the free endof the short middle bar 2li. The finger 30 forms a hook. The other outerbar 2E has its free end provided with a .right angle finger 32 extendingtoward the bar 22. 'The adjacent edges of the outer bar 26 and middlebar 24 include disaligned humps (it, 36.

Each free end of the belt has its tip turned back and stitched asindicated in Fig. 4 to provide a vertical loop 38 open at its top andbottom. Each loop has an outer bar 22 inserted therein, the nger 3@serving to hold the buckle against accidental displacement.

The sheath has secured thereto, as by stitching, a band 40 of anysuitable material, optionally, but not necessarily, circumferentiallyelastic and, if elastic, less resilient than the sheath.

'I'his band is located in the same plane as the belt, i. e. in registrytherewith. The band is so fashioned as -to provide acircumferentiallyspaced series of vertically extending pockets havingtheir upper and lower ends open. This may be accomplished, for instance,by securing the ends of the band to the sheath, as with lines ofstitching 42, and providing a series of rows of stitches 44 parallel tothe stitching 42 and spaced at uniform intervals therebetween. The band,and therefore each of the pockets, has a height which is slightly lessthan the lengths of the outer bars 26 so that said bars at the two freeends of the belt can be inserted in any pair of selected pockets by auser. The fingers 32 prevent the bars 26 from accidentally slipping outof the pockets in which they have been inserted. However, the finger isnot long enough to interfere with deliberate action of the wearer ininserting or removing a bar from a pocket.

The combined length of the belt and band exceeds the circumference ofthe sheath at the constricted zone when the foundation garment is notbeing worn, in the event that the sheath is constituted of a knittedelastic tube. However, said combined length is considerably less thanthe waist measurement of the wearer in the plane of the umbilicus sothat the belt and band will exert a constricting force. The amount ofconstriction exercised can be varied selectively by placing the bars 26in different pockets. rhe maximum constriction is attained when the twobars are in immediately adjacent pockets and minimum constriction whenthe two bars are in the outermost pockets.

The joint effect of the narrow belt in the plane of the umbilicus andthe constricted zone of the girdle in said plane is to nip in the bodyof the wearer with comparative abruptness immediately above the pelvicregion thereby providing stylish and desirable plateaus immediatelyabove the hips. This appearance will be achieved by the use of eitherthe constricted region of the sheath or the belt in the locationspecified. However, in accordance with the preferred form of myinvention, both said means are employed to give a sharp, i. e.comparatively abrupt nip-in and thus a figure appearance of high style.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a foundation garment whichachieves all the objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet theconditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and as various changes might be made in the embodiment. above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in theaccompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

l. A foundation garment comprising a circumierentially resilient sheathfor encircling the body in a region from above the umbilicus to belowthe hips, said sheath having a constricted portion below the upper edgeof the garment in the region of the umbilicus, said garment being widerabove and below said constricted portion, said constricted region beingabout one and a half inches wide and the maximum reduction incircunlrilference being about three-quarters of an inc 2. A foundationgarment comprising a circumferentially resilient sheath for covering the'torso from above the umbilicus to below the hips, said sheath having anupper edge and a lower edge,

.5 said sheath having a sharply constricted portion which extendscircumferentially around the garment in a horizontal plane substantiallycoincident with the umbilicus, said constricted portion having an upperedge and a lower edge, the upper edge of said sheath being above theupper edge of said constricted portion and the lower edge of said sheathbeing below the lower edge of said constricted portion, said constrictedp0rtion being about one and a half inches wide, a belt about one inchwide, means to attach said belt to the sheath at the eonstricted regionof the garment and with portions of the belt extending around both sidesof the garment, and means to adjustably tense the belt.

3. A foundation r'garment comprising` a creumu ferentially resilientsheath for covering 'the torso from above the umbilicus to below thehips, said sheath having an upper edge and a lower edge, said sheathhaving a sharply constricted portion which extends eircumferentiallyaround the garment in a horizontal plane substantially coinci- 6 dentwith the umbilicus, said constricted portion having an upper edge and alower edge, the upper edge of said sheath being above the upper edge ofsaid constricted portion and the lower edge of said sheath being belowthe lower edge of said constricted portion, a circumferentiallyresilient belt which is less resilient than the sheath, means to attachsaid belt to the sheath at the constricted region of the garment andwith portions of the belt extending around both sides of the garment,and means to adjustably tense the belt.

BENN LEWIS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 735,843 Temple Aug. 11, 1903 2,104,203 Levy Jan. 4, 19382,222,687 Rosenthal et al. Nov. 26, 1940 2,468,622 Glick Apr. 26, 1949

